I went to Bamboo Garden again this weekend, after spending the day in bed recovering from a massive hangover. I had sucked down about four large slices of not-so-great pizza before I went, yet managed to have some hot & sour soup and green onion pancake (my dining companion is vegetarian, so there were no pork dumplings this time).

As it was the last time I ate there, the food was fantastic. Unlike most other Chinese restaurants in town, Bamboo Garden does it authentic. I don't even know if there are forks and knives in the place – chopsticks don every table. Generally, you get rice or noodles and maybe some dumplings, plus different dishes unlike anything remotely Western (steamed turnip cake? steamed vegetarian bun?) There is a Westernized menu, but I've never tried it and I don't really feel the need.

It's nice to see a completely unique ethnic restaurant flourish in St. John's, where I've never known people to be the most adventurous with eating. (Granted, the food isn't especially daunting, but it's a far cry from cod and scrunchions.)

Hot and sour soup is pretty standard fare, but the green onion pancake was something new. It wasn't sweet, but was more like a pan-fried flatbread with flecks of green onion. It tasted somewhere between toutons and naan. I only wish I had realized before ordering, because it really seemed to invite dipping sauce.

Regardless, it was all delicious and made me think I should spend more money on dining out and less money on heavy drinking.